


Back Before We Started

by Quicksilver_ink



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Gen, Humor, In-Jokes, college traditions, daylight savings time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-04
Updated: 2012-11-04
Packaged: 2017-11-17 23:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/554390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quicksilver_ink/pseuds/Quicksilver_ink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While out late investigating a case, Phoenix and Maya discover a local college's tradition involving daylight saving's time and burgers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back Before We Started

“Niiick,” Maya pleaded, hanging on my arm. “I'm staaarving.”

 I was too tired to shake her off. “Just give me a few more minutes here. There has to be something, some clue we've overlooked.” I swept my eyes and flashlight over the floor one more time, squinting to focus my blurring vision. The flashlight was unnecessary here, with the overhead gas station lights making this part of the crime scene almost as bright as day, but revealed no more to me than I'd noticed early this morning when I first arrived. Chalk outline, splashes of blood, some crumbled concrete... and pretty much nothing else. I'd never seen a gas station lot so clean of trash and oil stains.

 She tugged on my arm again. “That's what you said two hours ago. C'mon, face it, there's nothing more to find here. We'll just have to look for holes in witness testimony tomorrow, like we always do “

 “I guess you're right....” I hated having to admit defeat when my client was counting on me. I'd even had more than a day to prepare this time... but still, nothing to show for it. We were right back where we'd started --- no, we were back to _before_ we'd started, since the one thing I'd found that Gumshoe hadn't was a candy-bar wrapper bearing my client's fingerprints.

 The policewoman assigned to guard the crime scene had stood outside the pool of light, lurking in the shadows by the deserted storefront. Now she approached us.

 “Look, Mr. Wright, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. It's nearly two in the morning, and my shift is up. If you were making progress I'd ask my relief to let you stay, but you don't seem to be, and frankly you look like a wreck.”

 Maya nodded in firm agreement. “Yeah, Nick, there's no way you're going to beat Edgeworth in court tomorrow if you don't get some sleep!”

 I tried not to sigh to loudly in disappointment. “I understand. Thank you, officer, for letting us stay as long as we have.”

 “Thanks! Don't forget to set your clock back an hour!” Maya said cheerfully.

 The officer rolled her eyes, but waved us off with a smile. We turned away from the island of light, walking out into the sea of blackness surrounding the crime scene. I passed the flashlight's beam back and forth in front of my feet so I wouldn't trip before my night vision returned.

 “My belly-button is having a conversation with my backbone,” Maya informed me. “They agree: we need burgers.”

 I sighed. I'd have to call a cab, at this time of night; there wouldn't be many on the street to hail in this part of town, anyway. We might as well get something to eat while we were waiting. And it _had_ been an awfully long time since dinner, I realized now that I was paying attention to something than other than my fruitless search of the crime scene.

 “Fine, so long as it's within walking distance.”

  

* * *

 

 

As luck would have it, Maya remembered passing a burger shack a few blocks away on our way to the scene. I called information (and Maya teased me for having a phone that didn't have a webbrowser) and got the name and address – Tommy's Original Burgers, indeed just a few blocks away. They were open all night, too, which I hadn't even thought to worry about.

 We were in for a surprise when we rounded the corner and found the place – and an _extremely_ long line.

 “Wow, this place must have really good burgers, if this many people are here at 2 AM,” Maya said brightly. She didn't even seem daunted by the wait, which I judged to be a good ten to fifteen minutes, just to place our order. I was too tired to argue at that point, so we made our way to the end of the line.

 The queue that wound its way around the small lot that housed the burger shack consisted mostly of college-aged kids. They'd driven here, it seemed, based on the number of cars parked in the lot and along side the street. As we waited, a few more car loads arrived, and joined us at the end of the snaking line.

 We got a few curious stares, before the groups turned to converse among themselves. I shifted uncomfortably under their gazes, but Maya didn't seem bothered, and bounced happily on her toes as we waited.

 With nothing to do but fall asleep on my feet, I people-watched as we inched our way toward the counter. There were a lot of similar-looking t-shirts, scattered throughout the line.

 I noticed a cluster of kids wearing the same brown t-shirt a couple groups ahead of us in line. The shirts all said “Booty House” and had a logo that I assumed was some sort of fraternity crest, although women and men were both wearing them. Most of these “Booty Housers” seemed to be smoking, although they were in the distinct minority overall.

 “Huh, I wonder if they're med students,” Maya mused, tilting her head at the group right behind us.

 “Why's that?”

 “They're arguing about which doctor is best.”

 I listened in for a minute or two. They were indeed having an animated discussion, but... “Maya, somehow I don't think that's what they mean.”

 “Hmm, how so?”

 “Well, for starters, I'm pretty sure that a TARDIS isn't medical equipment...”

 We stood around and waited some more. Maya overheard a couple of kids in front of us talking about the Steel Samurai and promptly joined in. I tuned out the ensuing fanbabble.

 Eventually I looked at my cell phone. The stark, gleaming LED display informed me that it was now 1:25am. At least we were almost to the counter. It was a good think the taxi driver had told me we'd have a long wait, at this rate... Maya was bouncing again, this time to read the menu over the heads of some of the taller students ahead of us.

 “I'll have a hamburger and chili cheese fries, oooh, and can I have a chili tamale too? That sounds interesting!”

 “Maya, two of those things aren't burgers,” I objected. I really _was_ tired, if that was my idea of a good way to talk Maya into ordering less.

 “So? It's good to be adventurous, sometimes! Besides, aren't you usually complaining that I only order burgers?”

 The only consequence of our discussion was that, when we got to the window, Maya ordered a double cheeseburger instead of just a hamburger.

 “Um, I'll just have a burger,” I said quickly, looking for the cheapest thing I could. The total still made me wince, although I paid the cashier as usual without complaint.

 We were given a reciept shooed toward the loose knot of people by the second window, presumably waiting for food. Thankfully, the chain-smoking Booty House kids were standing a bit further away.

 “Is it always this busy this time of night?” Maya asked one of the Steel Samurai fans she'd been chatting with, a girl about her age who was wearing a t-shirt celebrating modern art.

 The girl shrugged. “Probably not. We're just here for the negative time run.”

 “Negative time run?”

 “You know how Daylight Savings Time starts now?” the girl said asked.

 “Yes?” Maya was nodding.

 “No, it's ending,” another college kid corrected. Her shirt was emblazoned with what looked like a very stylized mug or teacup outlined in green, a curl of steam rising from the top.

 “Okay, yeah, it's ending,” modern art girl allowed. “So, you leave just before 2 AM, when the clocks get set back, and try to get back before the clocks hit 2 AM the second time.”

 “Oh, so you're trying to get back 'before' you leave! Nick, we need to do this again sometime, only the right way!”

 “Why?” I asked, hoping our food would get here soon, and then the taxi.

 “Because it's fun!”

 The college kids' food was ready, and ours followed after a minute or two. We soon found ourselves standing in a different part of the lot with the same group, greasy cardboard boxes in hand.

“It's like all that time waiting in line triggered some herding instinct, and we're all standing with the same people we were with before, except now we've got food,” coffee mug girl observed.

 “Heh, yeah.” Maya poked at the mound of chili in the boat that presumably held her tamale, since the fries and burger were better identified. “Is there even a tamale in here?”

 I lifted my burger from the box and got a nasty surprise. “Why is there chili on my hamburger?”

 “That's how they do them here,” modern art girl said, after clearing her mouth of burger. “It's kind of the point of coming to Tommy's.”

“Drmmmf ss rmmm gmmm,” Maya mumbled around a mouthful of chili, cheese, and fries. “I never thought to put chili on hamburgers and fries before. Best burgers ever!”

I took a bite of my inadvertent chili burger and made a face. “No, it's not.” Well, the burger might have been fine for all I know, but I couldn't taste it under the mud-colored and -textured chili.

“Yeah, it's kinda gross,” coffee mug girl agreed. “I just got cheese fries.”

Modern art girl nodded “I don't mind it, but I wish we did Negative Time runs for In-n-Out instead.”

“So, wait, all this waiting in line for food that's not even that good? Why?” I asked. I'd given up on trying to eat my burger neatly, and I could feel the chili getting all over my face and hands. I was too tired to care.

The two college kids looked at each other. “It's a tradition,” coffee mug girl said finally.

 

* * *

 

 

“I can't believe I let you two talk me into this,” Edgeworth groused in the parking lot of Tommy's, one year later.

 “I can't believe I talked myself into this,” I replied, glancing curiously over the crowd. I noticed more of the Booty House shirts again – and again, the kids wearing them were all lighting up. Edgeworth glowered at them. In the background, I heard chatter about Dr. Who, Steel Samurai, and someone named Lewis Nathan, who I assumed was an actor.

 If the college kids had stared a bit at my blue suit last year, Edgeworth wearing magenta, trimmed with a cravat or jabot or whatever, was really getting eyeballed. He shifted uncomfortably. “You said we were just going to grab a bite to eat, that it would take no time at all. And the queue is ridiculous.”

 “It's a tradition,” Maya informed him, folding her arms. “Besides, I timed us on the way up. We'll get back before we started, I promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> The "Negative Time Tommy's Run" is a real tradition at a certain small science & engineering college in southern California. The t-shirts are references to some common t-shirts worn by students there; "Members of Booty House are chain-smokers" is a student in-joke.


End file.
